Mobile

Mobile Phones and Tablets

Verizon iPhone

iPhone, Mobile / By / / , , / 3 minutes of reading

So today’s big news from Verizon is the long anticipated announcement that they will begin carrying Apple’s iPhone. My reaction: Disappointed… As I’ve mentioned on my Android page, I gave up waiting for a Verizon-badged iPhone about a year ago, and picked up a Motorola Droid. Jeannette has also gone with an Android phone, the Samsung Continuum, but with a backup plan — we have another upgrade coming up in February. She’s been happy enough with the Continuum that she’s not sure that she still wants to switch to an iPhone, even though she uses a MacBook, an iPad, and an iPod or two… So why am I disappointed? When I saw that Verizon was starting to carry the iPad, I was certain that the iPhone was on their horizon. Since the rumors of a January announcement coincided with Verizon’s roll-out of there shiny new LTE 4G network, I assumed that the timing was intentional, so that Apple could be one of, if not the first, 4G LTE smart phone for Verizon. Since one of the common complaints from AT&T iPhone users is slow data network speed, I assumed that Apple was interested in expanding to Verizon’s market not only because of their large customer base, but also because of their network infrastructure, and their 4G network speed. However, in the details of today’s announcement were a number of disappointments. First, the Verizon iPhone would only be compatible with CDMA technology for Verizon’s current 3G network. In fact, Verizon has said that their 4G network is currently only for data, not […]

Verizon iPhone Read More »

What Cables Should Cost

Audio, Computers, Mobile / By / / / 2 minutes of reading

Since my son Eric has gone to college, and taken his Sony PS3 with him, I didn’t have any way to watch Blu-Ray movies any more. While Christmas shopping, I realized that Walmart had quite a few Blu-Ray movies priced as low as $8 each, nearly the same price for the same movie on DVD. I decided that it was time to buy a Blu-Ray player. After reading a few reviews, and shopping around a bit, I found a decent deal on a Sony BDP-S370 on sale at Sears. When I hooked it up, I realized that I was going to need another HDMI cable to get the full resolution. I had my previous DVD player hooked up using a Component Video cable, but that seems to only support up to 1080i, not 1080p that I can get using HDMI. I checked the prices on the HDMI cables at Walmart when I picked up a few Blu-Ray movies, and found their best deal was a 6-foot HDMI cable from Vizio for $28. Instead, I’ve ordered online from Monoprice. They have 6-foot HDMI cables for about $3 each. So I ordered 4 of them, in different colors, so that I can tell them apart when I hook things up. I also found they had a Component Video cable for Melissa’s WII for about $3.30, and one with Composite and S-Video for $2.72. Even with the $7.75 or so for shipping, the total for the order came to only $26. So I saved a couple of bucks over Walmart’s cheapest price, but I’m getting 6 cables

What Cables Should Cost Read More »

Updated Android Car Home

Android, Mobile / By / / 3 minutes of reading

Last February, I gave up on the possibilities of either Verizon getting the iPhone, or any chance of our family ever being able to coordinate a switch to AT&T, so I bought Motorola Droids for Eric and I when Verizon had a “buy one, get one free” deal. I quickly decided that despite being an Apple fan, that I really like my Droid… Three things that I liked right away — the charging and data connection is done using a standard micro-B USB cable, which I was able to get extras from Monoprice.com for about a buck a piece, including a 6 foot cable that is actually long enough to reach when using the AC adapter. I also like that it has a standard SD memory card, so if I want to load more apps, music or video later, I can replace the 16Gb memory card with a 32Gb when the prices come down. Third, I like that the battery is removable and replaceable. Eric and I have swapped batteries several times when his was low, but he needed to go somewhere, and couldn’t charge it. The next two accessories that I picked up after some extra USB cables, were a Griffin PowerJolt dual USB 12v charger for the car, and the Motorola “Car Dock,” which is the suction cup windshield mount. The phone clips into the car dock easily, making perfect for navigating with Google Maps. I also found that the speaker phone mode works well enough that I

Updated Android Car Home Read More »

Scroll to Top